Miniature slide switch with split housing and detent structure

ABSTRACT

A miniature slide switch has a housing dish with side wall portions and stationary contacts mounted thereon. A saddle-shaped contact slide having movable contacts is pushed along the side wall portions to make and break contact with the stationary contacts. The slide has at least one elastic saddle side wall with an abutment surface extending therefrom. At least one protrusion extending from the housing dish and adjacent the side wall engages with the abutment surface. Flexure of the side wall permits the abutment surface to pass as the slide passes from one contact portion to another.

Umted States Patent [1 1 [111 3,912,887

Gratz et al. Oct. 14, 1975 [54] MINIATURE SLIDE SWITCH WITH SPLIT 3,501,599 3/1970 Horecky 200/16 D DETENT STRUCTURE 3,728,499 4/1973 Bang et al.... HOUSING AND 3,858,012 12/1974 Lockard 200/16 D [75] Inventors: Josef Gratz; Kurt Muehlboeck, both of Mumch Germany Primary Examiner.lames R. Scott [73] Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin & Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Hill, Gross, Simpson, Van

Munich, Germany Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Sim son [22] Filed: July 9, 1974 21 Appl. No.1 486,878 [57] ABSTRACT A miniature slide switch has a housing dish with side [30] Foreign Application Priority Data wall portions and stationary contacts mounted J l 0 1973 G 2335039 thereon. A saddle-shaped contact slide having movy emany able contacts is pushed along the side wall portions to make and break contact with the stationary contacts. 4 8 3 The slide has at least one elastic saddle side wall with 58] Field 2OO/16 293 3O7 an abutment surface extending therefrom. At least one 2002327 1 6 protrusion extending from the housing dish and adjacent the side wall engages with the abutment surface. [56] References Cited Flexure of the side wall permits the abutment surface to pass as the slide passes from one contact portion to UNITED STATES PATENTS another 3,308,250 3/1967 Field et al ZOO/l6 D 3,485,966 12/1969 Bailey et a1. 200/16 D 11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures I] 21 l l 13:? I l s\\ U.S. Patent Oct. 14,1975 Sheet10f3 3,912,887

US. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,912,887

U.S. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,912,887

MINIATURE SLIDE SWITCH WITH SPLIT HOUSING AND DETENT STRUCTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a switch and, more particularly, to a miniature slide switch, in particular for use with circuit boards.

With the continual demands for a reduction in size of electronic components, and a miniaturization of equipment, a strong need arises for the production of very small switches, particularly for the insertion into circuit boards. Due to the small dimension of these switches they should consist of as few members as possible since the assembly of the switch becomes unreasonably difficult in the presence of a multitude of members.

It is thus desirable to provide a miniature slide switch consisting of few such members. This switch should be easy to produce, and it should operate reliably, despite its simple construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION amount of members required for the assembly of a slide switch can be essentially reduced if the switch is designed so that special parts are not required as arresting means for the switch in either of the switch positions. The switch in accordance with this invention permits the production of the arresting means integrally with the housing or the contact slide, respectively.

In accordance with one embodiment of this invention, the saddle side walls are embodied as elastic members, comprising flange-type projections which narrow the space enclosed by these side walls at least in one place. The projections cooperate with a frustumshaped protrusion preferably extending from the bottom plate of the housing. The contact means are essentially L-shaped and are fixedly attached to the upper portion of the saddle-type contact slide, with their other ends extending freely between the side walls of the housing and the saddle side walls. Two of the four free ends of these contact means, respectively, rest against one of three metal sheet strips which are embedded in the housing side wall. When the switch is moved, one of the two occupied metal sheet strips becomes free, while the third one is contacted, instead. The metal sheet strips, in turn, comprise-extensions, protruding beyond the housing wall, in which they are embedded, and forming plug portions corresponding with borings of a circuit board.

Portions of the contact slide move freely upon the upper edges of the housing side walls, and all parts are held in place by the hat-shaped switch casing which is elastic to such an extent that it can be plugged over the remaining members. It comprises discontinuities which engage with corresponding protrusions of the housing walls. The switch casing also comprises an upper guide slot permitting the movement of the contact slide with BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the three members constituting the switch,

FIG. 2 is a partially sectional, partially elevational top view of the assembled switch,

FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2.

The figures are strongly enlarged.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1, in particular, illustrates the three members which have to be assembled to form the miniature slide switch in accordance with this invention. They are a hat-shaped casing 1, an essentially saddle-shaped contact slide 2 and a housing dish 3 including sidewalls i 5 which are integral with the bottom plate 4.

The saddle walls 6 of the saddle-shaped contact slide 2 are parallel with respect to the side walls 7 of the housing dish 3. A flange-type projection 8 extends from each of the saddle walls 6. This can be recognized in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. The projections 8 narrow the space between the saddle walls 6, thereby forming the gap 9 which is shown in particular in FIG. 4.

The bottom plate 4 of the housing dish 3 has an integral frustum-shaped protrusion 10 extending into the space between the saddle walls 6 and this protrusion has a cross-sectional dimension (as viewed in FIG. 4) which is substantially greater than the width of the gap 9 when the saddle walls 6 are in an unstressed condition. The relative parallel movement of the contact slide 2 and the side walls 7 is permitted only with the simultaneous spreading of the saddle walls 6, due to the interaction of the frustum-shaped protrusion 10 and the projections 8.

L-shaped contact members 11 are fixed to the contact slide 2, (as viewed in FIG. 1) such that, if the contact slide 2 is compared with a saddle, the contact means 11 are in the position of the riders legs and are embedded on the upper side into the plastic material of the contact slide 2, while the foot portion extends freely between the saddle walls 6 and the side walls 7 of the housing 3. These contact means 11 are formed of springy electrically conductive sheet metal.

The side walls 7 of the housing dish 3, in turn, have window-like sheet metal members 12 embedded therein in substantially coplanar relation therewith. Extensions 13 of these sheet metal members 12 project through the bottom plate 4 of the housing dish 3 in the form of lugs 13 and these lugs can be plugged into corresponding borings of a circuit board not shown in the figures or otherwise provide a means of electrical interconnection with the switch.

The figures illustrate three such metal strips 12 in each side wall 7, and they are insulated from one another. In addition, the drawing shows four L-shaped contact means 11, whereby two adjacent contact means 11 respectively cooperate with one of the sheet metal strips 12 of the housing wall 3, to form a contact. Such a double contact is far more reliable than a single one. Despite the small size of the switch arrangement, relatively long spring paths of the contact means 11 are obtained, due to the above described design.

The switch is furthermore designed in such a way that the center sheet metal strip 12a of a housing wall 7 is always connected with two of the four contact means 11, while only one of the other two sheet metal strips, respectively, is contacted by the other two contact means 11, depending on the position of the contact slide 2.

In each of the two switch positions, one of the frontal surfaces 14 of the contact slide 2 rests against the respective part of the inner side portion 15 of the housing dish 3. FIG. 3 shows particularly well how the contact slide 2 is maintained in such a position by the frustumshaped protrusion 10 of the bottom plate 4 which forms a bearing for the projections 8 of the saddle walls 6. The protrusions 16 of the contact slide 2 rest upon the edges 17 of the housing walls 7, and a force must be applied to cause a relative movement of the contact slide 2 and the housing wall 7, to spread the flange-type projection 8 of the saddle walls 6 with the help of the frustum-shaped protrusion 10, and thus permit. that these flange-type projections 8 reach the other side of the frustum-shaped protrusion 10.

The contact slide 2 is maintained in its position within the housing dish 3 by the hat-shaped casing l. Hook-shaped noses l8 engage with perforations 19 of the elastic casing 1 when the latter is plugged over the side walls 5 of the housing dish. An operating member 20 extends through a guide slot 21 of the casing l, and it may be operated either by hand or by another adjusted means such as a tool. A boring 25, shown in FIG. 3, serves for applying such an adjusting means. The crosspiece 22, supporting the saddle walls 6 and the contact slide 2, simultaneously serves for covering the guide slot 21 to prevent dust and similar things to enter into this slot 21, and thus into the interior of the switch.

A shoulder 23 extending approximately along the upper third of the outer side walls 5 of the housing dish 3 separates the upper parts 24 of the outer walls 5 from the inner surfaces of the casing l. The gap produced by the separation prevents damaging vapors as from soldering operations from entering the switch by capillary action since the narrow channel formed by the walls 5 of the housing dish 3 and inner surfaces of the'casing l is widened at 24, preventing any such capillary action.

It will be apparent from the above description of the preferred embodiment that this invention provides a simple, practical and reliable miniature slide switch. Although variations and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, it is desired to include them within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

I. A miniature slide switch, comprising:

a housing dish having side wall portions with at least one stationary contact on an inner surface thereof,

a saddle-shaped contact slide having at least one movable contact engageable with said stationary contact and having at least one elastic saddle side wall and being relatively movable along the side wall portions of said housing dish, to move at least one of said stationary and one of said movable contacts into and out of engagement with one another,

at least one protrusion extending from said housing dish into a space adjacent an interior surface of said side wall of said saddle shaped contact slide,

a complementary abutment surface on the interior surface of said side wall of said slide engageable with said protrusion, whereby flexure of said side wall of said slide can be effected to permit said abutment surface to pass around said protrusion upon movement of said slide from one position to another and whereby at least one of said stationary and one of said movable contacts can be moved into or out of engagement with one another by movement of said abutment on one side or the other of said protrusion; and

a casing member having members engaging corresponding arresting members of said housing dish,

2. A miniature slide switch constructed in accordance with claim 1 wherein said saddle-shaped contact slide has a pair of flexible side walls and wherein said side walls have projections formed on an interioir surface thereof extending toward one another and defining a gap in the unstressed condition of said side walls smaller than the principal cross-sectional dimension of said protrusion extending therebetween.

3. A minature slide switch in accordance with claim 1 wherein two side walls of said saddle-shaped contact slide are elastic and cooperate with a frustum-shaped protrusion extending from the bottom of said housing dish.

4. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein fixed contacts are embedded in the side walls of said housing dish in substantially coplanar relation with respect thereto.

5. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 4 wherein electrically conductive lugs of said fixed contacts extend beyond said housing dish, to form plug members.

6. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein movable contacts extend into a space between said saddle side wall and said housing dish.

7. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 6, wherein one end of said movable contacts is fixedly attached to said saddle-shaped contact slide.

8. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 6, wherein said movable contacts are embodied L- shapedly.

9. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein said contact slide comprises an actuation member extending through an upper slot of said casing member.

10. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein said housing dish and said casing member form a gap between themselves at least in a partial area of the housing wall.

11. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 10, wherein said gap is formed by a shoulder reducing the upper third of said housing dish. 

1. A miniature slide switch, comprising: a housing dish having side wall portions with at least one stationary contact on an inner surface thereof, a saddle-shaped contact slide having at least one movable contact engageable with said stationary contact and having at least one elastic saddle side wall and being relatively movable along the side wall portions of said housing dish, to move at least one of said stationary and one of said movable contacts into and out of engagement with one another, at least one protrusion extending from said housing dish into a space adjacent an interior surface of said side wall of said saddle shaped contact slide, a complementary abutment surface on the interior surface of said side wall of said slide engageable with said protrusion, whereby flexure of said side wall of said slide can be effected to permit said abutment surface to pass around said protrusion upon movement of said slide from one position to another and whereby at least one of said stationary and one of said movable contacts can be moved into or out of engagement with one another by movement of said abutment on one side or the other of said protrusion; and a casing member having members engaging corresponding arresting members of said housing dish,
 2. A miniature slide switch constructed in accordance with claim 1 wherein said saddle-shaped contact slide has a pair of flexible side walls and wherein said side walls have projections formed on an interioir surface thereof extending toward one another and defining a gap in the unstressed condition of said side walls smaller than the principal cross-sectional dimension of said protrusion extending therebetween.
 3. A minature slide switch in accordance with claim 1 wherein two side walls of said saddle-shaped contact slide are elastic and cooperate with a frustum-shaped protrusion extending from the bottom of said housing dish.
 4. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein fixed contacts are embedded in the side walls of said housing dish in substantially coplanar relation with respect thereto.
 5. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 4 wherein electrically conductive lugs of said fixed contacts extend beyond said housing dish, to form plug members.
 6. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein movable contacts extend into a space between said saddle side wall and said housing dish.
 7. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 6, wherein one end of said movable contacts is fixedly attached to said saddle-shaped contact slide.
 8. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 6, wherein said movable contacts are embodied L-shapedly.
 9. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein said contact slide comprises an actuation member extending through an upper slot of said casing member.
 10. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 1, wherein said housing dish and said casing member form a gap between themselves at least in a partial area of the housing wall.
 11. A miniature slide switch in accordance with claim 10, wherein said gap is formed by a shoulder reducing the upper third of said housing dish. 